Keeping Score
by lightblue-Nymphadora
Summary: Future!fic. Santana finally asks Rachel what happened between her and Finn. One-shot Pezberry. Former Finchel. Rated for language.


_**LbN: The winner of the poll :). Pulled ahead of Lost Without You by about 2 votes. Happy reading!**_

* * *

_Someday, ooh someday_  
_ One you gave away will be the only one you're wishing for_  
_ Someday, hey hey_  
_ Boy you're gonna pay 'cause baby I'm the one who's keeping score_

_~Mariah Carey  
_

"Did you ever think we'd end up this way?" Rachel asked as their limo pulled through the streets of Vegas.

"Married, famous, nominated for seven Grammies between the two of us, and raking in millions of dollars per year?" Santana asked with a grin. She threw an arm around Rachel and shook her head. "Nope."

"Enough with the mushy stuff, you two," Quinn said, smirking. "We're almost there. So now I'm going to magically transform from bestie!Quinn to manager/lawyer/PR goddess!Quinn. Run me through the Dos and Don'ts of tonight."

Santana rolled her eyes. "I'm allowed to act lovey-dovey with Rachel and cop to being married, but only if they ask, and I cannot give a timeline or address any of the unpleasantness from the past two years."

"I'm allowed to kiss Santana when she wins her awards, but I have to keep it PG," Rachel recited.

"I'm not allowed to curse in my acceptance speeches."

"I am a lightweight, and can only have one glass of champagne at the after party."

"I'm not allowed to disappear with Rachel for prolonged periods of time."

"Good girls," Quinn said. "Looks like we're almost there. I can see camera flashes."

"Ready?" Santana asked Rachel as the driver pulled up to the red carpet.

"Always."

* * *

**Four Days Later**

"Hey baby? Is Q still coming over today?"

"Yeah. She sent me a text about half an hour ago. She was stopping by her office and then coming over." Rachel smiled as she felt Santana come up behind her and wrap her arms around her waist.

"I'm so glad we're home. What are you making?"

"Red velvet cupcakes. And no, they're not vegan."

"I finally broke you," Santana sang.

"Yeah, yeah…I figure since I've gone off of it mostly anyway, I can handle a few eggs in order to celebrate our massive amount of awards from Sunday."

"Damn straight. Can I lick the spoon?"

"Wanky," Rachel said, passing it back to Santana as the doorbell rang.

Santana chuckled and went to answer the door.

"Santana! What if it's the mailman! You answering the door while licking a spoon will be on TMZ by tonight!"

"It's Q."

"How do you know?"

"Q always rings twice. She's OCD." Santana opened the door and, sure enough, Quinn was standing there.

"I am not OCD," the blonde said. "Also, I brought sandwiches." She passed the bag to Santana and quirked an eyebrow at the brunette.

"What?"

"Cake batter? Really?"

"Don't judge me."

"Hey Quinn," Rachel said when they joined her in the kitchen.

"Howdy, my favorite brunette!"

"Hey!" Santana yelped, pouting.

"Oh come on…you know she's my favorite. She's tiny and cute and doesn't give me a hard time when I tell her not to yell at the paparazzi."

"Okay, you got me there," Santana conceded. "So, boss lady, what are we talking through today?"

"To start with the good, Nelly's people called about a collaboration."

"With Nelly?" Santana asked.

"No, it's one of the artists he just signed. Someone called Pimp Star X?"

"Oh god, seriously?" Rachel asked. "Where do they get these names?"

"Hell if I know," Quinn said. "I told them I'd talk to you and let them know. Second thing, The View wants you on there, Rachel. Joy Behar herself begged me. She loves you."

"I'm fine with it, as long as the schedule's open."

"Third thing," Quinn said, taking an envelope out of her purse. "This came to the office today." She handed it to Rachel. "And yes, it's been checked for anthrax and any other chemical tampering."

"You sound like Sue," Santana said.

"Who do you think donated the on-call Hazmat team?"

Santana rolled her eyes and then looked at Rachel. "You okay, baby girl?"

"It's from Finn."

The kitchen was quiet for a long moment. Then Rachel cleared her throat and opened the envelope. She took the letter out, but didn't open it.

"Do you want a minute, baby girl?"

"No…no, stay. I just…don't know what to expect."

"I could read it and give you the quick and dirty version," Quinn offered.

"Wanky," both brunettes said.

"Grilled Cheesus…."

"It's okay," Rachel said, opening the letter. She read it quickly, scowl becoming more and more pronounced as she read.

"Oh shit, she's about to go scary!Rachel," Quinn whispered.

"Save the cupcakes," Santana said, sticking the pan in the oven.

"Shut it, you two. It's…it's fine. Just Finn being Finn."

"What did he say?"

"That he's sorry about what he put me through, didn't realize what he had until it was gone, thinks we're meant to be together…yada, yada, yada."

"Well, the good news is that he's taking his restraining order seriously," Quinn said. "He sent it to me at the office instead of to you directly."

"He's obviously still delusional, though," Santana muttered.

"What day did they want me on The View?" Rachel asked.

"Two weeks."

"Sounds like a good time to make our official announcement, right?" Rachel asked Santana.

"Yep. I'll Tweet it from backstage, so we're making it together."

"We can just ask if you can come out at that point," Quinn said. "The ladies love you both; I'm sure they'll be cool with it."

"Okay. In that case, enough talking about Finn and work and boring stuff. I want my sandwich."

"I get to pick the movie!" Santana said, racing Quinn to the media room.

Rachel just shook her head at the two of them.

* * *

"We never really talked about it."

"About what?" Rachel said, snuggling into bed with Santana.

"What happened between you and him."

"Sure we did—"

"No. We didn't. You told me he was 'a cheating asshole' and that you were getting a divorce. I was there for the rest of it after that."

Rachel sighed. "Do you want to know?"

"Got to admit…the letter today kind of sparked my curiosity." She rolled over so that she was leaning over Rachel a bit. "I know it's in the past," she said, kissing her. "And I know that raining down fiery vengeance for anything you tell me would be hugely counterproductive. But…if you're ready to talk about it, I'm here to listen."

Rachel held her for a while, and then looked up. "It's kind of funny, actually, the way I first found out. I always thought that infidelity played out like in the movies. You know…I'd smell perfume on him, or I'd go through his phone and find texts…it was way more blunt. She came to the house."

"Bullshit."

"Seriously," Rachel said, chuckling. "I was supposed to be leaving for an audition, but the director had called and rescheduled for the next day. So I was making dinner. I guess Finn was running late getting home and he told her to go over and wait. She'd been there before because she had a spare key." Rachel smiled up at Santana. She knew the older woman was fuming, but staying silent so she could talk. "He came home to me throwing her out. And then had the nerve to try and deny it."

* * *

"_I don't know what you're talking about!" Finn bellowed._

"_Finn! She had a key to the house! A key you gave her!"_

"_Maybe she found it somewhere."_

"_Are you fucking kidding me? Just…you're caught, Finn. Be a man and admit it!"_

_Finn deflated a bit, but kept his defiant expression. "So what? Plenty of people cheat."_

"_Plenty of people….I don't care about anyone else, Finn. Why am I not enough for you?"_

_He looked like he'd been kicked. "Rachel…don't cry. I'm sorry. I was being…selfish and awful and…. It's just, you're getting more and more big roles now. I feel like I'm finally dating a star and I'm just…me. I just wanted to see if…. No, it doesn't matter. No excuses. I swear, it's over."_

"_It better be, Finn," Rachel said in a hollow tone. "Because I refuse to be one of the wives who looks the other way, just to say I have someone around."_

"_One more chance. Please…I love you."_

_Rachel nodded, but pushed him away when he went to hug her. "I need some air."_

* * *

"I drove from New York City to Albany that night. For no fucking reason other than the idea of sharing the same city air with him made my skin crawl."

"Understandable," Santana grunted. She shifted on the bed so that Rachel was half on top of her. "Go on."

"Somehow, I knew it would happen again. And I knew I'd forgive him again, as pathetic as that sounds. So I… I kind of made a deal with myself. I decided that he got to fuck up two more times. If it happened a third time after that, I was gone. I know," she said, smiling. "That's a whole lot of forgiveness. But it was for me too. It was morbid curiosity…to see if that first time really was a mistake. To see if he could change."

"He couldn't."

"Nope. I don't remember much about the next ones, because I didn't confront him on them. I didn't leave after three, because…okay, this is going to sound psycho, but I was having a bit of morbid fun sizing up my competition. Keeping a sort of mental tally of things. I guess I was trying to figure out his 'type' and why I didn't fit it. And we weren't having sex, so I wasn't worried about catching anything," she added, seeing Santana's look. "But still… I'd had enough after a while. The last one…"

"What happened?" Santana asked softly.

"It was after that time you came to New York. Remember, we went to lunch after your recording session?"

"Yeah," Santana said, smiling.

"The paparazzi caught us, and normally Finn didn't keep up with anything I do, but that particular day he happened to pull up TMZ."

"Oh fuck."

"Right. It was just a picture of us eating lunch. No touching, no eye sex, nothing inappropriate."

"Well yeah…we were still just friends."

"He flipped shit. Accused me of cheating. He was throwing things…flipping tables over. I was terrified. Finally, he stopped."

* * *

"_You're no better than me," Finn said, panting. "So what were you doing with that slut, Rachel?"_

"_She's not a slut, and I was having lunch with her like the picture showed," she said. "But you on the other hand…."_

"_What about me?" he asked, advancing on her._

_Rachel moved so that she was closer to the door. "If you're going to cheat, you should really get an extra phone."_

"_You went through my phone?" he yelled._

"_No. She called while you were in the shower yesterday. I saw her name with a heart by it, so I picked up."_

_Finn glowered at her. "Go to bed."_

"_Excuse me? I'm not a three year old. And as for bed, forget it."_

"_Rachel—"_

"_No. We need a break. I'm going out."_

"_Where are you going?" he demanded, grabbing her arm._

"_A hotel."_

"_Santana's hotel?"_

"_She's already on a plane back to LA by now."_

_He stared. "Fine. Fine! Go. I don't fucking know why I deal with you anymore."_

* * *

"I went straight to Quinn's place. I had to actually sit on top of her to stop her from killing Finn."

"That worked? I would've thought she would just pick your tiny ass up and take you with her."

"She did try," Rachel said, chuckling. "But then I asked if she knew of a good divorce lawyer, and she settled down."

"And the rest is history?"

"Stalker filled, restraining order history."

Santana squirmed a little so that she was eye to eye with her wife. "Thank you for telling me," she said. She kissed her softly. "Thank you for trusting me."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

* * *

**Two Weeks Later**

"So, Rachel," Joy Behar said. "You have an announcement for us, is that right?"

"It is," she said, beaming.

"And there's someone who wants to be here for it," Whoopie Goldberg said. "Everyone, please welcome Santana Lopez!"

The crowd went nuts as Santana strolled out to sit next to Rachel.

"So…what's the news?" Sherri Shepard asked.

"We know there have been a lot of rumors about our relationship," Santana said. "And we wanted to put everything out there so there's no confusion."

"Santana and I are happily married now," Rachel said.

The audience started cheering again, and Santana smirked as she caught Elizabeth Hassleback's politely disapproving face.

"It's been an interesting two years for the two of you, hasn't it?" Joy asked.

"Yes," Rachel agreed. "Yes, it definitely has. But we're completely happy now, and we're ready to move forward with our lives together."

"Do we get wedding pictures?"

The girls laughed. "No, it was a pretty small ceremony, and we want to keep those private."

"We'll make sure to take tons of honeymoon pictures, though," Santana said. "Don't worry—appropriate ones."

The audience laughed indulgently.

"Where are you two headed?" Whoopi asked.

"Ireland," they said in unison.

"Well we wish you guys the best," Sherri said. "Everyone in the audience today is getting a free copy of Santana's newest album _Of Gods and Stars. _We have to cut to commercial now, but when we get back, these two lovely ladies will be performing _Lost Without You_. We'll be right back."

As soon as the cameras cut off, the girls were rushed off set to makeup. Before she could be pushed into a chair, Rachel leaned over and kissed Santana. "It's Hollywood official—you're stuck with me now, babe."

Santana just laughed and took her hand as the makeup crew got them ready to perform.


End file.
